Before I begin my tangent let me start by saying I am hesitant to even use the term “identity politics.” I feel that the term is used more often than not to silence the voices of women or people of color in leftist spaces when confronting the reality of what it means to be anti racist becomes uncomfortable. That said, I think that there is a staunch difference between liberal identity politics and leftist identity politics.

Leftists acknowledge intersectionalityand use it to improve their analysis so that they may recruit and engage with more people in a more diverse way. Liberals use identity politics totokenize, to excuse their own complacency in white supremacy, and most shallowly to get votes.

This is why I get infuriated when we talk about “the women vote” or “the black vote,” as if anyone who is not a white straight male in our society is of some bizarre kind of hive mind.

Pundits dehumanize LGBTQA+ people when they assume Buttigieg has their votes locked down simply because he is gay.

I hope everyone realizes that is what pundits and politicians are saying when they sayings like “the coveted black women vote.”

They are saying that oppressed groups of voters, such as black people, women, black women are nothing more than who they vote for president and what is worse is the dehumanizing idea that they will all vote for the same person for the same reasons.

When it comes down to discussing the “woman vote” or the “black vote” in the eyes of liberal and conservative pundits you are no longer a collection of individuals, each with your own stories and culture and background and reasoning. No, to them you are simply a part of a demographic, a thing to be used as fodder for politicians and talking heads alike.

They are fucking insulting you and reducing you to an infantile point. We should not stand for this.

Like this:

At a vigil for Stephon Clark on Saturday March 31, 2018 at approximately 9pm a local activist was run down by a Sacramento Sheriff SUV. The protester has been rushed to the local trauma center for treatment.

As of 11pm protesters are still gathering. Black Lives Matter Sacramento is encouraging people to show up to the intersection of Florin and 65th Street.

The victim has been positively identified as a well known and befriended local activist, a white female between the ages of 50-60. Details of her current condition are yet unknown but friends of the victim have confirmed her identity.

The SUV made no attempt to stop after the incident.

This comes barely 24 hours after the Clark family released the results of a private autopsy they commissioned for Stephon. The autopsy revealed that Stephon had been hit 8 times out of the 20 shots which Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet had fired. 6 of the 8 shots hit Stephon Clark in the back.

A picture of the plates on the SUV were taken and video of the incident went viral within minutes.

This marks the second straight week of protests where the City of Sacramento has demanded justice for Stephon Clark.